anya liftig subverts marina abramovic

check out this interview with an artist who dressed up and totally infiltrated another artist's performance piece over the weekend! too cool.

amy cutler rocks my socks

Amy Cutler is super cool: brooklyn artist, does very narrative / folktale and detailed paintings

"While I absorb references through the media there are always underlying personal meanings in my paintings. Often it will be a year or more before I feel like I fully understand why I selected certain images and painted them the way I did".

http://www.tonkonow.com/cutler.html

Jennifer Linton!

http://www.jenniferlinton.ca/

So this wonderful artist, Jennifer Linton is definitely worth mentioning on this blog.

The images you see are from her recent alphabet series in pencil crayon (2007), which works off of the concept of the children's alphabet book as translated for adults, focusing on issues related to emotion and politics, from a personal, feminine perspective.

I really hope you check out the rest of her series on her web-portfolio, as well as her other work, it's really fab.

Other topics she explores in her other work include menstruation, pregnancy, gay and queer imagery, religion, consumerism, and the expression of emotion.

She harkens back in her imagery to symbols such as pomegranates, apes, and severed heads which tend to remind me of both Frida Kahlo and Artemisia Gentileschi.

She works mainly in pencil crayon, but also has some ties to printmaking techniques.

But I could talk all day, check her out for yourself...

Just for some Painful Laughs...

The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist:

Working without the pressure of success.

Not having to be in shows with men.

Having an escape from the art world in your 4 free-lance jobs.

Knowing your career might pick up after you're eighty.

Being reassured that whatever kind of art you make it will be labeled feminine.

Not being stuck in a tenured teaching position.

Seeing your ideas live on in the work of others.

Having the opportunity to choose between career and motherhood.

Not having to choke on those big cigars or paint in Italian suits.

Having more time to work when your mate dumps you for someone younger.

Being included in revised versions of art history.

Not having to undergo the embarrassment of being called a genius.

Getting your picture in the art magazines wearing a gorilla suit.

(This list was taken from http://www.arthistoryarchive.com/arthistory/feminist/)

new & improved

thanks so much for all your help, ladies - here's the new & improved version. i'm way happier with this one :)

sorry, so many posts!!!

new introduction to write-up, tell me what you think!

Our objective in our presentation is to address extreme feminist art through a specific dialogue: the revulsion and disgust of the audience. From shock to distaste, extreme feminist art ignites ideas, uncertainities, and repressed thoughts to the viewer. Our title, “Feminist Aesthetics of Disgust” emphasizes the importance of the viewer and their reactions to art work. The definition of disgust is a “strong repugnance, aversion, or repulsion excited by that which is loathsome or offensive” (OED). Michelle Meagher, an Albertan professor on feminist cultural studies, calls disgust “…a habituated emotion linked to and reflective of cultural paradigms…disgust is an attempt to render oneself distinct from that which disgusts”. Extreme feminist art involves the intimate, personal, and fragile thoughts and ideas that is present in the viewers' life: if the viewer acknowledges this presence, the viewer will become vulnerable. We chose to examine four different artists who, through their own (dis) taste, create disturbance and cross boundaries.

bouncing ideas for introduction / conclusion...

PS: we should probably explain why we decided to have the theme of
'disgust' as our main theme in our write-up... what would be a good definition?
what does disgust mean?
OED: Strong repugnance, aversion, or repulsion excited by that which is loathsome or offensive, as a foul smell, disagreeable person or action, disappointed ambition, etc.; profound instinctive dislike or dissatisfaction.

In the essay about jenny saville, Michelle Meagher calls disgust: "... a habituated emotion linked to and reflective of cultural paradigms" (32).
She also describes how disgust in art is socially constructed...when we feel disgust, we do not recognize why, nor how our revulsion is created, "disgust reveals something about the way our social orders are structured and how we variously inhabit those social orders...as a gut reaction, disgust is an attempt to render oneself distinct from that which disgusts--disgust is that embodied practice of cringing, backing away, highlighting one's separation from an object"

Bouncing ideas

So disgust is the reaction to our artists' work... we are asking the viewers, why do you cringe? why do you feel repulsed? What reasons do you wish to avert your eyes? Even more so, these works of art that cause us to feel uncomfortable, they are threatening to our privacy...we feel things in association, we understand what they portray
(saville's 'bigness', coble's self-mutilation, kiki smith's intimacy with seeping,leaking, private spheres, galindo's abrasive reclamation involving women and violence)

and that is something intimate, personal, and fragile. If we acknowledge this presence, we become vulnerable.

^Is this what extreme feminist art does? It makes us vulnerable?

presentation report!

WGST 398 Presentation:

Feminist Aesthetics of Disgust

Title

Objectives-Our objective is to address extreme feminist through a specific dialogue: the revulsion and disgust of the audience. From shock to distaste, extreme feminist art ignites ideas, uncertainities, and repressed thoughts to the viewer. We chose to examine four different artists who, through their own (dis) taste, disturb and cross boundaries.

Each person talk of their artist, their themes, and the investigative processes:

1) jenny saville

2) kiki smith

3) mary coble

4) regina galindo

As a group, we met weekly to discuss our progress in researching and analyzing the artists. From a vast selection of artists, we decided to choose four so we could be specific and detailed in our presentation.

HELP ME 2

hey guys,

so after a series of technical fiascos and a bunch of weekend tomfoolery that did not involve doing homework (fail), i have complete what looks like the first draft of my art project. thanks so much for helping me hash out the ideas in our lunch meeting? it's turned into a wee video after all...could i trouble you to watch it and let me know what you think? i'm a video noob, so any recommendations on image & audio quality and critical discourse and all that jazz are much appreciated.

i tried to embed the video but the size is all wrong, so here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euASq6ltcG0

lunch meeting tomorrow?

HELP

HELP

I'm stuck. I don't know if I should concentrate on Jenny Saville or Jessica Lagunas. Lagunas is the woman who did the videos of her putting on makeup (lipstick all over face and chin) and she also did series on menstrual blood, dotted pretty patterns on clothing, dresses, mattresses. Another thing she did was a video of her plucking her pubic hair, called, "return to puberty".

I'm torn because Saville is interesting because it's through paint, medium we haven't talked about, and Lagunas because her videos are extremely unsettling...grooming and aesthetics of women (excluding the menstrual patterns)
they both are involved with beauty and ideals....
which one do you guys think I should do?

March 9th 2010

QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED:

What does this work evoke?

what is it made?

How does it relate to our topic

what is the artist trying to prove or proving

Are there any critics or

what is the history or connection between the artist and the artwork?

Are there any questions....

-did any of the artists presented make you uncomfortable ... why?

-concepts

extended resources for people to check out.

AAHH

hey, i'm in library today til around 12 30. Did you all get the email joan borsa sent?
"Hi All,

Is your group still focusing on some aspect of extreme body art, monstrous femininity, the abject or unruly bodies? Would you be able to present on March 17? I would like to hear back from you by Fri noon as I want to confirm readings for next week. If you are within the realm of monstrous femininity are you addressing Orlan's or Saville's work? I would like to assign the readings on Orlan and Saville to match your presentation day -- assuming you are still covering this topic. Look forward to hearing back from you."

Would you say our topic IS monstrous feminity? It's a really good slogan. and if so, are we ready for march 17? i don't know if i will be... this art proejct and my 20 page essay...shit... but if we have to i can do it. We need to reply...!

Ruven Afanador

OK so I finally found that artist I kept talking about, who did a series on flamenco dancers. And he also did a series on bull fighters! He plays alot with gender, as you can tell from the bull fighters. They're beautifully effeminate.

Here's some photos!

and here's his photography site!

http://www.art-dept.com/artists/afanador/

think I'll go with Kiki Smith and stick with the theme of bodily fluids...
thoughts? suggestions?

K I think I found some interesting artists.

1) Kiki Smith - works with bodily fluid to bring out a sense of revulsion in viewers...such as blood, shit, pus, milk etc. etc.

2)Victoria Van Dyke - raped at 11yrs old, her memories caused her to create some highly disturbing art... such as this pic.

MISSIONS

RESEARCH.

Emma is researching Regina Jose Galindo.

Katie is doing an artist focusing on bodily fluid.

Leah is Mary Coble.

Cassie is doing Jenny Saville or an alternate artist dealing with distortion of the image.

All are having a grand ol' time.